Sensex down nearly 600 points; Rupee at 66/$

HDFC and HDFC Bank down 8-10% among the top losers

Markets contiuned its southward jouney with 30-share Sensex shedding nearly 600 points in the late-afternoon session this Tuesday as rupee weakened.

At 3PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 602 points at 17,956 and the 50-share Nifty slipped 190 points at 5,285.

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Updated at 2PM IST

Markets slumped further in the afternoon session this Tuesday on back of Rupee's free-fall amid growing concerns over the widening current account deficit after Congress-led UPA government approved Food Security Bill.

The rupee weakened against the dollar in late trades on Tuesday due to month-end dollar demand, said currency dealers.

The currency fell to 66 per US dollar compared with Monday's close of Rs 64.31 on the Interbank Foreign Exchange .

At 1:55PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 570 points at 17,988 and the 50-share Nifty slipped 181 points at 5,296.

In the broader markets, the midcap index was down 2% and the smallcap index lost 1.4% as compared to the 3.2% fall on the BSE benchmark index.

Asian markets also were under pressure. Japan's Nikkei share average fell for a second straight day with the index down 0.7%.  Hang Seng, Straits Times and Taiwan Weighted were down 0.6-1.6% while Shanghai Composite was up 0.3%.

There as no respite in the European markets too. CAC, DAX and FTSE were down 0.7-1.5%

Except IT index which is up 0.7%, all the other indices are in the red, down at least 1.6%.

Bankex, Capital Goods, PSU, FMCG, Power, Realty, Metal, Consumer Durables and Health Care indices were down 2-5% in noon trades.

The only gainers among the sensex-30 were Sesa Goa, TCS, Infosys and Dr Reddys Lab which were up 0.1-2%.

HDFC and HDFC Bank down 8-10% were the top losers along with BHEL, L&T, NTPC, Coal India, Jindal Steel, Sun Pharma, ITC and Hindalco down 4-7% were the major losers.

The market breadth was very negative. 1,470 stocks declined while 642 stocks advanced on the BSE.